1Health Sciences, University of
Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK; 2Centre for Medical Statistics
and Health Evaluation, University of Liverpool; 3School of Human
Communication Sciences, University of Sheffield

Corpus callosum (CC) is considered to be the
information superhighway between the cerebral hemispheres and has shown
differences in cross-sectional area between musicians and non-musician. We
investigated CC morphometry between male orchestral musicians and non-musicians
using a technique addressing regional CC anatomy and shape to advantage. In
posterior part of CC (widths cluster W89-94), string-playing musicians showed
larger cluster relative to non-musicians which we interpret as supporting
visuospatial cognition, notably sight reading ability, essential for orchestral
musical performance, through increasing connections between visual and language
regions. Lack of significant findings in clusters within anterior parts of CC
contradicts earlier studies.